Engels (city)

Engels ( _ru. Э́нгельс) is a city in Saratov Oblast, Russia. It is a port on the Volga River, located across from Saratov and connected to it with a bridge (since 1965). Population: ru-census2002|193984|; su-census1989|181201|; 163,000 (1977); 130,000 (1970); 91,000 (1959); 22,000 (1897).

Founded in 1747 as Pokrovskaya sloboda ( _ru. Покровская слобода), it was granted town status and renamed Pokrovsk (Покровск) in 1914. Its German name was Kosakenstadt. It became the capital of the Volga German Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, now a part of Saratov Oblast, in 1924, and it was renamed Engels after Friedrich Engels in 1931.

It was founded by Ukrainian settlers, and was settled by Germans during the reign of Catherine the Great; it is now a major center of Volga German culture. It is the site of Engels-1, Russia's largest and most active strategic bomber base.

References